Wide Awake In America
I average around 5-6 hours of sleep per night.
On the upside, that's better than the four hours I managed in college. On the other hand, "sleep deprivation" has become another one of those "health causes" that the well-meaning take up (until the cause is seized by the less well-meaning; I fully expect the Saint Paul City Council to propose a tax on people who sleep less than eight hours a night, and another on those who sleep more than eight hours...).
The good news, though - I may have (yet again) been right all along:
A six-year study Kripke headed up of more than a million adults ages 30 to 102 showed that people who get only 6 to 7 hours a night have a lower death rate than those who get 8 hours of sleep.
The study also speculates that the "Sleep Deprivation" meme was started by...drug manufacturers:
The risk from taking sleeping pills 30 times or more a month was not much less than the risk of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, he says.
Those who took sleeping pills nightly had a greater risk of death than those who took them occasionally, but the latter risk was still 10 to 15 percent higher than it was among people who never took sleeping pills. Sleeping pills appear unsafe in any amount, Kripke writes in his online book, "The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills."
"There is really no evidence that the average 8-hour sleeper functions better than the average 6- or 7-hour sleeper," Kripke says, on the basis of his ongoing psychiatric practice with patients along with research, including the large study of a million adults (called the Cancer Prevention Study II).
And he suspects that people who sleep less than average make more money and are more successful.
The Cancer Prevention Study II even showed that people with serious insomnia or who only get 3.5 hours of sleep per night, live longer than people who get more than 7.5 hours.
I'd laugh the smug, self-satisfied chuckle of the vindicated...
...but I'm too tired.
Posted by Mitch at
April 17, 2006 12:19 PM
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Those who sleep 6-7 hours have a lower death rate!?
Lower than 100%!?
Posted by: Gary M. Miller at April 17, 2006 02:44 PMOh my, a Republican who believes in science! And not just the how-can-we-squeeze-another-cupholder-into-that-SUV kinda science either.
Now we'll have to work on getting Mitch to believe in evolution, global warming, gravity and other pointy-head theories.
Posted by: angryclown at April 17, 2006 05:03 PMac, your shtick is getting pretty boring.
Posted by: Will Allen at April 17, 2006 05:32 PMAs for me, before I started taking vitamins in Oct 2002, even if I got a full 8 hours of sleep, I was still a zombie til 10am, and would fall asleep sitting on the couch watching TV after dinner.
Now, with the vitamins, I only need about 5 hours of sleep per night (and can survive on 3-4 if something prevents me from going to bed on time,, and it's not pleasant, and I need a cup of coffee or two the next morning). I'm awake by the time I get out of the shower, and I'm usually good all evening long if I take the 2nd round of vitamins early afternoon. If I take them in the morning, they wear off and I still get tired in the evening.
As for my kick-ass vitamins, you can't buy them in stores, and that's all I'll say about them lest I get accused of trying to sell something (which I'M NOT).
No, I don't drink coffee every day. Only if I'm nodding off at my desk or am having a fancy dinner at a $$$$ restaurant
On the occasional Saturday that I DO get to sleep in and get in a good 8 or more hours of sleep, I'll be wide awake til 3 am or later, which sucks because Sunday is my day to get up with the kids and wifey sleeps in.
Posted by: Bill C at April 17, 2006 06:10 PMSomething tells me Bill C is on Vitamin Meth.
Posted by: angryclown at April 17, 2006 08:05 PMHuman caused warming is not science, it is religion. Good to know clown does indeed have religion.
Posted by: chriss at April 18, 2006 07:08 AMThis whole thread just causes me to want to take a nap....
...on second thought, too much sleep may lead to dirt nap...
Posted by: Greg at April 18, 2006 07:15 AMSomething tells me Angryclown is on vitamin Duh.
Posted by: Kermit at April 18, 2006 08:39 AMWill is right.
"Will is right."
Kermit the Toady.
Posted by: angryclown at April 18, 2006 12:30 PMI thought I was a sycophant. Quit confusing me.
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